Annunciating and indicating apparatus



Jan. 6,` 194.8. J. M. HEssER ANNUNCIATING AND INDICITING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 28, 1944 "EQ @m .llllll INVENTOR Jamey/lf. Heier.

H125' ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 6, 1948 ,ANNUNCIATING AND INDICATING APPARATUS Ja-mes "Iiesser, Roanoke, Va., lassignor 'to The 'Ilnlon Switch land Signal Company, Swissvale, .1Pa.,.afcorp,orat1on of Pennsylvania (Application 'September 28, 1944, Serial No. 556,193

Claims tMy .invention `relates to annunciating and Aindicating apparatus, and is 'particularly Aadapted for use *in :centralized traic 'control systems lfor railroads.

YIn systems of this character, it 'is the practice toprovide a track diagram at the lcontrol Aoffice comprising .a 'representation Aof 'the controlled stretch of track, ,and to provide lamps inthe various 'track sections of `the diagram which are lighted by remote control to visually indicate 'the progress of trains 'through the stretch, together with annunciating means comprising a single stroke bell Aor theilike 'for audiblyindicating when a train enters certain. of thesections.

The objectofmyiinvention is to provide animproved arrangement of circuits for controllinglan audible signal device of this ,character in .accord ance with traic conditions in the controlled'territory in such amanneras to cause the .device 'to .sound selectively, preferably only when some'action is required by the operator to control traiiic movements as a result of'atrain entering or leaving a particulartrack section. `In "thearrangements as used heretofore *ithasbeenfound that the operator may become lso'accustomed Kto the lr frequent sounding 'of an audible signal 'device under conditions ywhen 7'no action is required that Ihe `is likely rto f become unaware lof vits loperat'ion, and as a. consequence '1 the purpose 'Lfor :which ithe bell is providedfis'znotattained.

One :feature "of :my invention is the :provi-sion of xmeans :for zcausing :an audible :signal v.dei/'ice to nsound when a train :enters :an approach section, but only if the train :is approaching .la railway I:signal :att-stop, *.but'which must be cleared'by the ioperator to permit fthe-.continued movement fof the train. That is tosay, the audible -signal device does nots-oundfif ftheoperator hasalready-,cleared therailway -signal,0r `if the :train is moving Iin ,.theecpposite direction andenters the approach vsectiomfmm therend `adjacent lthe railway signal.

.Another-feature aof my .invention .is the `provision-.ofrmeans for causing the audible ,signal ydevil-neto sound when. a .train vacatesfa .route in.- `cludinga Jnanuallyoontrolled trackswitchgprofvided there-'isla train @man.adjoiningtracleawaiting theiclearing-of arailway signalgoverningits Tmovement over .a .coniiicting route including .the switch. Y

.lshalldescriheone form of-.apparatusembodying my invention, and =shall then point out the novel features 'thereof 'inr'claims `In the 'accompanying drawing, the ltrack Aplan atthetoprepresents atypical portion of la single trackvrailroad v`including `-a 'passing --s'iding, `1having.

a centrally .controlled Ktrac'lrswitch 1a-nd group of signals at each end; vThe stretch is dividedzinto sections as shown, each provided with a track circuit identied by the reference character '-I with a distinguishing prefix, each'section having a normally energized l:track `relay When -a train occupies any of the sections, section --ZRT lfor example, the track relay 2RTR for theY occupied sectionreleases andthe corresponding'indication relay, such .as the `relay :Z'RAK located at the control office, becomes energized and -by closing its Vfront Contact bfeffects the lighting of a lamp ZRAE inthe Icorresponding section of a miniature track diagram, -as shown in the flower portion of the view, the successive ylighitingfof't-he lamps indicating the progress of aitrain through the stretch to the control operator.

The track switches I'Wand 'BW'are kcontrollable manually from the oiiice under l'proper traic vcon-- ditions by lthe yoperation of the switch levers vl and 5. The group of signals 2BA, 2RB,2'LA and 2LB which govern traiiic movements over -`the switch 1W in its normal and reverse positions, respectively, are controlled `by a threeposition signal lever 2, and the similar` signals y'6LA, 56LB, BRA and GRB are controlled by another signal lever 5. When a signal is cleared a signal repeating relay, such as the 'relay ZRGP or ZLGP', releases to energize a corresponding signal indication relay at the office, such as the relayZRI-IK or ZLI-IK, to light a lamp `2RE or `2h15 associated with the lever and to extinguish the 'lamp ZNE which when lighted indicates that all ofthe signals of the corresponding group standat stop.

The remote control roi-the switches and Signals may be accomplished either by the provision of :direct Wire connections such as those shown'for energizing the indication relays K, or the controis may be effected by means of a remote control system ofthe code type, 'such Aas is-shownin the Lewis Letters 'Patentvoi theUnitedfStates No. 2,229,249, issued Jan. 21, 1941. case the indication relays K are tobe understood tobe controlled intermittentlyby codes 'transf `rnitted over aline circuit, Aand to ibe'held locally in their last operated position duringV the'intervals between codes, as described in this'patent.

The approach indication relays 2RAK and 'ELAK each have a contact c o'f the make-beforehreak type arranged to close -a circuit momen'- 't'arily when the relay picks up but under no other condition, for energizing a bell `relay Altov thereby operate a single stroke .bell A, iasdescribe'd in the -Agnew Letters Patent of the :UnitedqStates In the 'latterY In accordance with my invention, contacts of other indication relays are included in these circuits in order to eiect the selective operation of the audible signal device, as will now be described. When a train moving from left to right enters section ZRT, relay ZRTR releases, energizing the oiiice indication relay ZRAK, and if signals ZRA and ZRB are at stop with section IT unoccupied, so that relays ZRHK and ITK are released, a circuit is closed momentarily from one terminal B of a suitable local source of current at contact c of relay ZRAK over contacts c of relays ZRHK and ITK through relay AP to the other terminal C of the same source, so that relay AP is momentarily energized to close its contact a and thereby sound the bell A. This calls the operators attention to the fact that he must clear signal ZRA or ZRB to permit the further progress of the train. In the event he has already cleared the signal, relay ZRI-IK will be energized and the circuit for relay AP will be open at contact c of relay ZRHK. Relay ZRAK also becomes energized when a train moving from right to left enters section ZRT, but in this case the train also occupies section IT and relay ITK is energized, and bell A will not sound because the circuit for relay AP is open at the back contact c of relay ITK.

The bell circuit controlled by relay BLAK is similar, and is closed to sound bell A only when a train enters section BLT from the right, with signals SLA and SLB at stop, being open at contact c of relay BLHK when one of these signals is at clear, and at contact c of relay STK if the train which enters section SLT is moving from left to right and consequently occupies section 5T at the time.

The track section AT serves as an approach section for the two leaving Signals 2LA and GRA at the opposite ends of that section and the indication relay KIATK has two make-before-break contacts d and e. If a train enters section AAT from the left, relay ITK will be energized at the time to prevent the closing of the circuit including its back contact c and contact e of relay IIATK, and the circuit including contact d of relay 4ATK will be closed to sound the bell A only if signal BRA is at stop so that contact d of relay ERHK is closed, Similarly, if the train enters section dAT from the right, contact c of relay STK will be open, rendering the circuit controlled by contact d ineiective` and the one controlled by contact e of relay AATK will be closed to sound the bell A'only if signal 2LA is at stop so that contact d of relay ZLHK is closed.

It will be seen, therefore, that the bell A is ycontrolled by each of the approach sections ZRT, 4AT and BLT in such a manner that it is caused to sound only in the event thev signal which the train is approaching is at stop, requiring action by the operator in order to enable the train to proceed.

A further condition under which the circuits of my invention are useful is when the siding serves as a meeting point for two opposing trains. Assume for example, that a train is moving from left to right on the main track through sections IT and 4AT, and an opposing train is standing on the siding, in section 4BT. When the main line train vacates section IT, switch IW is free to be operated to reverse, and then signal ZLB may be cleared for the opposing train.

The departure of the train from section IT is announced to the operator in response to the release of the indication relay ITK in the following manner: When relay ITK releases, it completes a circuit from terminal B at its back contact a for energizing a slow pick-up relay ITKP, but before relay ITKP picks up, a circuit is closed momentarily over its back contact a and over the front contacts c of relays 4ATK and 4BTK through relay AP to terminal C, to energize relay AP and thereby operate the bell A. It follows that the bell A sounds when a train vacates section IT, provided sections l#AT and 4BT are both occupied. The bell is also caused to sound when the train moving from right to left into the siding vacates section 5T, provided this occurs after the train moving from left to right has entered section 4AT. In this case, when relay STK releases to energize relay ETKP, it closes a circuit momentarily from terminal B over back contacts a. of relays 5TK and BTKP, and front contacts c of relays ATK and IlBTK through relay AP to terminal C. In the rst example, the sounding of bell A announces to the operator that he should reverse switch IW and should clear signal ZLB, and in the second example, that he should restore switch 5W to normal and should clear signal GRA. When the relative directions of movement of the two trains is the opposite to that described, the circuits serve to announce to the operator when it is proper to operate the switches and to clear signal BRB or 2LA, respectively, as will be readily apparent.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of apparatus embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. Train annunciating apparatus for indicating traic movements in a stretch of railway track comprising, a first and a second track section in said stretch, a signal for governing the movement of traffic from said first section to the second seotion, a track indication relay for indicating the condition of occupancy of said first track Section, a signal indication relay for indicating the position of said signal, an audible signal device, and a circuit for energizing said device controlled by said indication relays including a contact closed momentarily by said track indication relay when a train enters said iirst track section and a contact closed by said signal indication relay only when the signal is in its stop position.

2. Train annunciating apparatus for indicating Y traffic movements in a stretch of railway .track comprising, a rst and a second track section in said stretch, a signal for governing the movement of traffic from said first section to the second section, a track indication relay for each section for indicating the occupancy of such section, a signal indication relay for indicating the position of the signal, an audible signal device and a circuit for energizing said device controlled by said relays including a contact closed momentarily by the indication relay for the first section when a train enters said rst section, a contact closed by the indication relay for the second section only when said second section is unoccupied, and a contact closed by the signal indication relay only when the signal is in its stop position.

3. In combination with a stretch of railway track including a detector section and two approach sections one at each end of said detector section, an indication relay for each section responsive to the presence of a train in such section, an audible signal device, and circuits controlled by said indication relays for briey energizing said device once for each train movement through the stretch including contacts of the make-before-break type controlled by each approach section relay which close momentarily when a train enters the corresponding approach section, and in series therewith a contact controlled by the detector section relay which is closed only when the detector section is unoccupied.

4. In combination with a detector section of railway track including a `track switch operable to normal or reverse to form routes leading to a ilrst track section or to a second track section, an indication relay for each section responsive to the presence of a train therein, an audible signal delvice, and a circuit for briey energizing said device closed momentarily by the detector section relay when a train vacates the detector section said circuit including contacts closed by the other Aindication relays indicating that both said first track section and said second track section are occupied.

5. In combination with a detector section of railway track including a track switch operable to normal or reverse to form routes leading to a first track section cr to a second track section, an indication relay for each section responsive to the presence of a train therein, an audible signal device, and means for momentarily sounding said device in response to the operation of said 'detector section indication relay when a train passes from said detector section to said rst track section, and means controlled by the indication relay for said second section for preventing the operation of said device in response to said train movement unless said second track section is also occupied by a train.

JAMES M. HESSER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,770,897 Brooks et al July 22, 1930 1,786,795 Vanhorn Dec. 30, 1930 2,018,765 Preston et al Oct. 29, 1935 2,019,467 Wenholz Oct. 29, 1935 2,027,718 Bushnell Jan. 14, 1936 2,027,719 Bushnell Jan. 14, 1936 2,069,342 Vanhorn Feb. 2, 1937 2,112,228 Crago Mar. 29, 1938 2,187,414 Crago Jan. 16, 1940 2,206,556 Agnew July 2, 1940 2,285,880 Allen June 9, 1942 2,355,327 Phinney et al. Aug. 8, 1944 

